Mom of survivor of Brooklyn ax attack says killer went after her daughter before

The mom of a young Brooklyn woman clinging to life after her boyfriend hacked her head, face and chest with an ax told the Daily News in an exclusive interview on Monday that the weapon-wielding maniac had previously been violent toward her daughter.

“I believe she was afraid because this is not the first time he’s actually attacked her,” Jessica Cruz told The News on Monday, expressing outrage over the rampage that left her daughter Angela Valle, 21, in intensive care and Savannah Rivera, 20, dead. “At some point she was trying to get out of the relationship.”

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Rivera was nearly decapitated by Valle’s boyfriend Jerry Brown, 34, in the Saturday attack inside the Bushwick Houses. Brown later surrendered to cops and was charged with murder, attempted murder and weapons possession.

“I didn’t know anything about the attack because my daughter was afraid to tell me about what was really going on behind closed doors," Cruz said. “I just found out about that myself. When you’re in an abusive relationship, you’re really afraid to speak on it."

The devastated mother said the pair “weren’t in a relationship for that long,” but it was “rocky.”

Brown had also threatened “to kill” Valle’s ex-boyfriend and the father of her child in a fit of jealousy, Cruz said. "I’m assuming my daughter was trying to get out of the relationship, and he looked at it like she was trying to get back with her daughter’s father, which is not true.”

Cruz isn’t certain what set off the raging attacks on Saturday, but she said the three of them had argued “while they were all together.”

In a gut-wrenching Facebook post on Sunday, Cruz wrote of the ghastly wounds that had been inflicted upon her daughter.

“My daughter’s head was slashed open with an ax almost from back to front," Cruz wrote. "My daughter will never be the same not mentally not physically.”

“My daughter’s throat was slashed as he tried to cut her head off,” she continued. "My daughter’s stomach was slashed open she has multiple stab wounds around her body. She has tubes coming out of her head, her mouth, her stomach and her head is swollen to the size of 2 bowling balls. My daughter is not in the clear.”

Valle managed to get to the street, where she hailed an Uber car. Seeing the extent of her injuries, the driver called 911. She told authorities her daughter was in the apartment and that her friend was also there, dead.

Cruz expressed resentment over people who have been critical of her daughter’s actions in the minutes after the attack.

“I have to hear ‘how can she run and leave her baby there.'" Cruz wrote. “My daughter was left for dead. When the son of a b---h left, she found the strength to get up make it downstairs stop a cab and ask for help all while her brain is exposed and her throat. Now picture trying to do that carrying a four-year-old."

“She (Valle) should not be blamed for this," Cruz told the Daily News. "He’s the one who did this. She’s a victim just as Savannah was.”

On Sunday, Rivera’s former boyfriend Justin Permaul, 19, wrote in a post that Brown should die in prison. “You took my ex girlfriend’s life away," Permaul said on Facebook. "She was such a great person and always wanted to just have fun.”

Cruz wants that to happen. “I’m going to do everything it takes to make sure he’s put behind bars for life like he belongs,” she told The News.

Brown previously served eight years for attempted murder after pleading guilty to shooting a man in the chest in Williamsburg in August 2002, records show.

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After his release, Brown went back to prison three times for violating parole. His last prison stint began in November 2014 and ended eight months later when he reached his maximum sentence.

His criminal record includes 13 arrests, most recently for possession of stolen property in October. He was arrested for strangulation in January 2017 and has been busted for assault, robbery, and burglary.